Chapter One
Scottish Origins
The Constables of Dundee — Seven Centuries as the Royal Standard Bearers
The Hereditary Royal Banner Bearers
For over 700 years, the Scrymgeour name was inseparable from the most sacred symbol of Scottish nationhood: the Royal Banner of the Lion Rampant.
The office of Royal Banner Bearer was one of the great hereditary titles of Scotland, carrying the right to bear the king's standard in battle and at state occasions. The Scrymgeours held this honor from the 13th century until the tragic forfeiture of their estates in 1668 — a tenure unmatched in Scottish history.
The title was formally recognized as the "Hereditary Royal Standard Bearer for Scotland," a position that placed the family among the highest echelons of the Scottish nobility, alongside the Constables, the Marischals, and the Stewards of the Crown.
The Royal Banner — a red lion rampant on a gold field within a double tressure flory-counter-flory — was more than a flag. It was the embodiment of Scottish sovereignty, and the Scrymgeours were its appointed guardians, generation after generation.
The Patriot's War
The Scrymgeour banner-bearers stood at the forefront of Scotland's two greatest battles for freedom.
Falkirk (1298)
Sir Nicholas Scrymgeour carried the Royal Banner at the Battle of Falkirk, where William Wallace's schiltrons stood against Edward I's cavalry and longbowmen. Though the Scots were defeated, the banner never fell — a testament to the Scrymgeour resolve.
Wallace himself is said to have recognized the Scrymgeour standard-bearer's courage that day, marking the family as among his most trusted supporters.
Bannockburn (1314)
Sixteen years later, a new generation of Scrymgeour took up the banner. At Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce's army faced the English once more — and this time, victory was theirs.
The Scrymgeour standard-bearer planted the Lion Rampant on the field as the English fled, a moment immortalized in Scottish history as the definitive triumph of the Wars of Scottish Independence.
"The Scrymgeours — whose sword-arms carried the banner through the bloodiest battles of the Scottish Wars of Independence."
The Seat of Power: Dudhope Castle
Perched on the southern slope of Dundee Law, Dudhope Castle was the ancestral seat of the Scrymgeour family for centuries — a fortress that witnessed both glory and tragedy.
Dudhope Castle was originally constructed in the late 13th century as a tower house, strategically positioned to command the approaches to Dundee. In 1580, it was significantly extended into its current L-plan structure, adding the grand hall and residential wings that gave it the character of a noble residence rather than a mere fortification.
— Architectural Survey of Scottish Castles
The castle's name is believed to derive from the Scots Gaelic Dùn Dùbh meaning "Black Fort," though local tradition holds it was named for the "dow" or dove — a bird that features in the Scrymgeour family heraldry.
For the Scrymgeours, Dudhope was more than a home. It was the administrative center of the Constabulary of Dundee, the symbolic heart of their power, and the place where the Royal Banner was stored between battles.
Tragedy
The Betrayal
In 1668, the Scrymgeour family suffered a devastating blow — not from the battlefield, but from the machinations of the powerful John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale. One of the most influential figures in the court of Charles II, Lauderdale coveted the Scrymgeour estates and used his political position to seize them through a dubious legal claim.
What followed was an act of deliberate cultural destruction: Lauderdale's agents burned the family archives — centuries of charters, rolls, and historical records — to erase the Scrymgeour claim to the lands. The loss was catastrophic, severing the family's documented link to their ancestral holdings.
The Scrymgeours were driven from Dudhope Castle, their title stripped, their history burned. It would be nearly 300 years before the family name would be restored to its rightful honor.
Scottish Timeline
Late 13th Century
Dudhope Castle constructed. The Scrymgeours established as the Hereditary Royal Banner Bearers.
1298
Sir Nicholas Scrymgeour bears the Royal Banner at the Battle of Falkirk alongside William Wallace.
1314
The Scrymgeour standard flies at Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce victorious.
1580
Dudhope Castle extended into its current L-plan structure under the Scrymgeour lairds.
1668
The Duke of Lauderdale seizes the Scrymgeour estates and burns the family archives.
1952
The title of Hereditary Royal Standard Bearer restored to Henry James Scrymgeour-Wedderburn.